People: Gaining a new vantage point
Back in the ‘90s, President Clinton invited Dennis Quaid and then-wife Meg Ryan to the White House to screen one of her movies.
Quaid recalls exploring everything from the basement to the Oval Office.
“I spent a whole weekend with him,” Quaid says. “We hung out, played golf, rode in the presidential limo with the whole motorcade deal. It was a pretty unbelievable feeling.”
Now Quaid, 53, plays a Secret Service agent in the new mystery thriller “Vantage Point,” which opened Friday.
His jittery character has been called back to duty after having taken a bullet for the president just months earlier.
Quaid has three more films coming out this year. In April’s “Smart People”, he plays a grumpy teacher who falls for a former student (Sarah Jessica Parker) much to the dismay of his Young Republican daughter (Ellen Page).
He portrays a forensics expert in “The Horsemen,” a “horror movie with heart,” in May, and a coach in October’s racially driven sports drama “The Express.”
This month, Quaid began work on the comic-book adventure film “G.I. Joe,” based on the elite special missions force (Global Integrated Joint Operating Entity) introduced in an ‘80s cartoon – which wife Kimberly Buffington, 36, is just old enough to remember.
Quaid expresses much admiration for Buffington, who gave up a successful real estate career to marry him.
She was “pulling down 200K a year,” he says. “Then she moved out here with me. Really, all she ever wanted was to be a stay-at-home mom.”
In November, with the help of a gestational surrogate, they became parents to twins, Thomas and Zoe.
But the babies were accidentally given a dangerously high dose of blood thinner – 1,000 times the recommended dosage.
He happily reports that the twins are “doing fine, doing great,” though the Quaids are pursuing a lawsuit against the manufacturers of the blood thinner.
Quaid’s son with Ryan, 15-year-old Jack, is enjoying playing big brother.
“He really wanted to have a little brother, and I really wanted to have a little girl, so we all got what we wanted,” the actor says.
Reflecting on the emotionally draining events of the past few months, Quaid says, “The one thing that really came out of that for me, after a very horrific two weeks, is that I will never take another day for granted in my life, because if they hadn’t made it, I never would have had another happy day in my life.”
He’s not blowing smoke, literally speaking. The day he brought his twins home from the hospital, Quaid gave up smoking – a habit he had been trying to quit for several years.
“I figured, I want to be around when they’re 40, if I can,” he says.
“They stuck around for me, so I’m going to try to stick around for them.”
The birthday bunch
Country singer Ralph Stanley is 81. Newsman Bob Schieffer is 71. Actress Diane Baker is 70. Actor Alexis Denisof (“Angel”) is 42. Actress Tea Leoni is 42. Comedian Carrot Top is 41. Actor Sean Astin is 37. Singer Justin Jeffre (98 Degrees) is 35. Actress Rashida Jones is 32. Actor Justin Berfield (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 22. Actors James and Oliver Phelps (“Harry Potter”) are 22.